Folded carton with pouring aperture



Oct, 8, 1940.

J. c'. STEDMAN y FoLDED CARTON WITH POURING. APERTURE Fiie'd'qa'n. 51', 1939 Patented Oct., 8, 1940 PATEN T oFF-ICE i FOLDED CARTON WITH POURI'NG l APERTURE Jerry C. Stedman, Beaumont, Tex., assigner to The Stedman Company, Beaumont, Tex., a cor poration of TexasP Application January 31, 1939, Serial No. 253,873

1 Claim.

This invention relates to paper or cardboard folding cartons or boxes of that type employed in packaging powdered orsmall granular material, i and provided with a small pouring hole dened 5 by a weakened line in the wall of the carton, and which the consumer opens by knocking out the integral plug or tongue which covers the hole.

It is desirable ,for the consumer to be able to u, close the hole each time after pouring some of the contents from the box, to keep the unused portion of said contents from deterioration. When the wall of the box and the closure are ofsi'ngle'thickT ness, however, it is difficult toreplace the closure in the hole, for in attempting to press the closure into the hole, the sheet stock of which the carton is made being somewhat flexible, bends, distorting the shape of the closure and of the rim of the hole, so that the closure-will not t into the hole.

To avoid this difficulty, it has lately been proposed to put the pouring hole in the end of the carton, which is of plural ply thickness, generally the carton, has a thickness of three laminations,

and is amply stii to resist any deformation when pressed into the hole; this being true also of they rim of the hole, so that no trouble is encountered 80 in replacing the closure into the hole.

However, in such a construction, the hinge portion of the closure is also three layers thick, winch fact reduces its flexibility and causes itfto break Another objectof the invention is to provide a carton blank in which two pf the three end aps which will lap in the folded carton are provided with lines of weakness of complete encompassing form, dening areas to be knocked out, and the third or outmost ap having an incomplete encompassing -line of weakness defining a partial knockout', the discontinuous portion of said en compassing line forming the integral connecting hinge of the closure, said lines of weakness registering when the carton is folded, then said flaps being adhesively united so that when the closure is kncked or punched out, the'several knockouts ,65- are united into a plug of plural ply thickness, the

rim of the hole also being of the thickness of several plies, while the hinge integrally connecting the plug to the outmost lamination of the end wall of the carton is of single thickness.

Still another object of the invention is to provide in a folded carton, a pouring hole and hinged closure as described, the outmost flap being formed with weakened lines extending 'outward from the ends of the discontinuous portion of the line of weakness of said outmost flap, defining a 10 long .integral hinge, said hinge being characterized by the absence ofadhesive between it and the next underlying flap, whereby it swings on an axis remote from the closure, thereby requiring to be iiexed through only a relatively small angle in opening the hole.

` Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds. l

In the drawing thrughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts Figure lis a perspective-view of a carton =em1 bodying the principles of the present invention, showing theclosure in= closed position;

Figure 2 is a similar view'showing the closure in open position; i

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section showing the closure open;and l Figure 4 is a plan view of a blank which'folds intoy the carton illustrated in the Vpreviously described gures. j

Referring now in detaill to the several figures, the numeral I represents the carton as a whole, which in the illustrated embodiment of the invention is rectangular in lform, the top end of which being formed by foldingnward the flaps 2 and 3 from the opposite broad faces of the carton, and the iiaps 4 and 5 from `the'opposite narrow sides thereof, the ap's being so interleaved that the ilaps 4 and 5 are folded iirst,- with the flaps 2 and 3 -in superposed relation, the flap 2 being on top.` Inasmuch as the aps 4 and 5 are relatively short, they do not overlap, but lie in the same plane, so that the topend'of the box is of three ply thickness. AIt is obvious that the invention could equally well apply to box con? struction in which the wall perfor d' by the pouring hole is of two ply thickness of any` larger number of plies. v Y i Figure 4 shows that the two underlying flaps 3 and 4 are formed with circular areas 6 and 1.

- dened .by encompassing lines'of weakness and registering when the carton is in folded position.

The outmost flap 2, also is provided with an area 48 adapted to register with the areas 6 and of the respective flaps 4 and 3, in the folded carton. The area 8 is formed by a line of weakness which only partially encompasses said area, being dis-- continuous throughout that part which is indicated by the reference character 9. This discontinuous part formsan integral hinge for. the closure. The infolded aps are suitably pasted together, so that the top of the carton becomes a laminated unit. I'he pasting together of the several inturned flaps also adhesively unites the areas 6, 1, and.8, which -form a plug or'closure of three ply thickness, as shown in Figure 3. This plug may be -pried or knocked out of the laminated top wall of the carton so as to form the pouring hole Ill, the rim of which is also of three ply thickness. Said plug or closure is integrally connected to thetop ply of the carton,

' by the hinge II having the thickness of a single ply. Preferably, the nap 1 is provided with thev weakened lines I2 and I3, which substantially paralleleach Aother and extend outwardly from the ends of the discontinuous portion of the line of weakness which denes the area 8. Saidlines define the length of the hinge' II. It is preferred that the flap which immediatelyunderlies the outmost iiap 2,`for example, the iiap 3 in Figure 4, shall have no adhesive onthat partwhich is contacted by' the underneath surface of the hinge II. This permits the hinge II to swing on an axis which is remote from the hole I0,fsaid axis being a line joining the outer ends of the weakened lines I2 and I3. This permits the pouring hole I0 to be fully uncovered by the closure plug, by a relatively small angular iiexion of the hinge II, preventing its breaking, and perpetuating its intactness through the entire useful period of the life of the carton. l

K It will be understood that heretofore cartons have been made having the upper ends of multiply thickness, with an integral knockout closure of a pouring opening formed in said end. However, in` such constructions as are known, the

hinge connection is'oi the same thickness as that of the end of the box or the thickness of the plug portion of the closure, to which attention has been called in the objective paragraphs of the speciiication, lacking ilexibility and breaking upon being bent once or twice.

It will be understood to those skilled in the art, that various changes may be made in the speciilc details o1' construction and arrangement of parts, without deviating from the principles of the invention, and that the specific structure as shown and described is tobe regarded by way of example and not as restricting the scope of the invention which is dened in the appended claim.

What I claim as my invention is:

Folding carton having an end thereof com` posed of a'plurality of inwardly turned lapping iiaps pasted one against another forming a unitary laminated structure, the underlying ofsaid Vlapping naps being formed with complete l registering encompassing lines of weakness, and

the outmost lapping ilap having an incompletely encompassing line of weakness registering with the lines of weakness of the underlying aps, the

encompassed and partially encompassed adhesively united portions of said aps `constituting a closure plug adapted to be knocked out by the consumer to form a pouring hole with associated closure, said closure being of plural ply thickness, the discontinuous portion between the `ends of the line of weakness in the outmost iiap deiining an integral hinge for said closure, of single ply thickness, said outmost flap being formed with 'spaced weakened lines extending outward from 

